new credit card for pensioner abroad

clairg_2

Hello posting for my mum,

Hello tried on the credit card forum with no luck so hoping for some help on here.

she's off to visit my brother, sister in law and new grandbaby in Oz in November for 3 months, now the problem is she's 61 retired a year and only has 1 credit card with £500 limit which she does pay off each month, except for last month left £15 on (doesn't know why!) then payied for a holiday £500 ish went over her amount and they charged her for it, don't know if this will effect her asking for an increase, i don't think she has a very high credit score, hasn't had many credit cards in her own name hubbie would buy stuff on his but this is not an option.

she does have savings and will pay most of the amount spent whilst over there off when she gets back, but doesn't want to take a lot of cash over there with her any ideas would be helpful.

Ta x:beer:

missile

It would help if you said which card she has?
I would suggest she gets a Nationwide flex account, so she can withdraw cash, as they do not charge for overseas transactions. Similarly, she could get a Nationwide / PO credit card. Capital 1 seem to be more generous than most with their credit limits.

I would suggest she sets up DD to pay balance in full, so that she does not incur interest / penalty charges.

jennifernil

That would be my suggestion too. We have a Natiowide Flexaccount, e-saver and credit card, but as the interest rate is not that good we only use the Flexaccount when going abroad.
Before we go we put what we think we will need into the e-saver and transfer some to the Flexaccount. While we are away our daughter keeps the Flexaccount topped up from the e-saver to a pre agreed amount.
The credit card is paid by a DD from our main (Halifax) current account as our pensions are paid into it.

Savvy_Sue

LINKING TO ARTICLES

Hi, Martin’s asked me to post this: There’s an article on the main site you might like to read that gives more information on this subject.

Because she is a pensioner with (presumably) a limited income the FlexAccount may be the way to go, rather than a Credit Card. Being away for 3 months she's going to need to keep track of spending somehow: a credit card may not give any big advantages.

I know DS1 recently looked into getting a PO card and they wanted income of £8000 per year, which he doesn't have. What we've done - and there are obvious pitfalls with this - is that DH has taken out a new Nationwide CC with DS1 as additional cardholder, and I've taken one out with DS2 as additional cardholder. We won't spend on these cards, just forward the bills to our respective sons. The first month the bill doesn't get paid, the card gets cancelled!